autobiography
Americannoun
plural
autobiographiesnoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of autobiography
Explanation
You are writing an autobiography when you write your own life story. A writer who writes an autobiography is like a painter who paints a self-portrait. If you intend to write your autobiography one day, it might be a good idea to start recording notes about your life in a diary. The author Gertrude Stein was being clever when she poked fun at the very idea of autobiography when she wrote her own memoirs but titled them The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, instead of The Autobiography of Gertrude Stein.
Vocabulary lists containing autobiography
Words to Live By: Bio
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Write On!: Graph and Gram
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To Thine Own Self Be True: Auto
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Maya Angelou’s autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was included in the purge; Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” was not.
From Salon • May 3, 2026
Miller “soon put the enemy to flight at the point of a bayonet, capturing their colors and most of their arms,” Mr. Hemming writes, quoting Cochrane’s 1859 autobiography.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Perhaps we will have to wait for Sir Keir's inevitable post-premiership autobiography for the unvarnished truth.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
The daily diary is distinct from a formal autobiography.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
Ben Franklin’s autobiography was punched up after his death to underscore his rise from obscurity.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
